Looking for the answers to common questions about Puget Sound’s student life and athletics? Look no further! If your question is not answered here, reach out to your admission counselor!
Puget Sound’s 97 acre campus is located in North Tacoma. All buildings are designed in the Tudor Gothic architectural style that simultaneously features the rich history of Puget Sound and the innovative future ahead. Lush greenery is found all over campus—whether it be the many fir trees and groves, or the ivy crawling up the brick buildings. Not only are Puget Sound students a constant presence on campus, but community members often stroll the pathways of Puget Sound with their families and dogs.
Students are required to live on campus for their first two years at Puget Sound. Over 70% of students choose to live in university housing each year. Although some students decide to live off campus after two years, over 90% of the student body lives either on campus or within a mile radius of campus.
There are always students around campus participating in campus events, attending sporting events and social functions during the week and over the weekend. You can check out our Student Life website for more information.
When students chose to leave campus, they can take advantage of several districts within Tacoma, including restaurants, coffee shops, and Pt. Defiance, one of the largest urban parks in the country. There are two business districts within a 15 minute walk from campus, students easy access to much of Tacom’a offerings. To the north, Seattle has world class shopping, dining, and the unique Pike’s Place Market. Students also engage in outdoor pursuits, taking advantage of two national parks within easy driving distance, great skiing in the winter, and camping in the summer.
There are more than 100 clubs on campus during a typical year. While we can’t tell you about them all, we can give you sampling of the multitude of opportunities here. Students can get involved in campus media, like The Trail and KUPS "The Sound," or participate in an academic society like the Biology Club or Writers Guild. For student’s with social or political passions, you’ll find Students for a Sustainable Campus, Relay for Life, and Students for a Free Tibet among many other offerings. Learn about another culture through Hui-o-Hawaii or our Asian and Pacific American Student Union an don’t forget about our biggest club on campus - Puget Sound Outdoors! Supporting these clubs (and a fantastic way to get involved at Puget Sound in its own right) is the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound (ASUPS), our student government. Explore our full list of clubs online to discover how you’ll get involved.
If you find that Puget Sound does not have a club you are interested in, it is easy to start a new club! All you need is a faculty advisor and several other students who are interested to become recognized by ASUPS.
Students have the several opportunity to get involved right away with student leadership, especially in their residence halls. Residence Hall Association elections will happen in the fall. Elected students participate in Puget Sound’s student government, the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound (ASUPS), by representing their residence hall and quad. Additionally, it is not uncommon for students to step into leadership opportunities in student clubs during their first semesters.
ASUPS has brought numerous artists to campus like Macklemore, Ben Folds, and Jason Mraz. Our School of Music presents over 150 fantastic concerts that feature guest artists from all over the nation and world, renowned faculty, and even accomplished student musicians.
We also have many student-run music ensembles that perform on campus. For instance, we have three a cappella ensembles (Underground Sound, Garden Level, and What She Said), a musical theatre review (Curtain Call), and numerous student-run chamber ensembles.
Our Norton Clapp Theatre offers a range of dramatic productions each year including a faculty-directed play each semester, student-directed One Acts, and a Theater Festival, in addition to other student and faculty led events. All students, regardless of major, are invited to participate and attend the events at Norton Clapp Theatre.
Puget Sound is also home to a variety of gallery shows each year thanks to Kittredge Gallery! They host gallery exhibitions for students as well as regionally and nationally recognized artists. See what show is currently at Kittredge.
Puget Sound hosts many speakers, through student government, student clubs, and academic departments. In recent years movie director Spike Lee, Carlos Fuentes, football coach Herman Boone (of Remember the Titans fame), and political commentator, columnist, and radio personality Armstrong Williams have spoken on campus. Here is a list of Puget Sound’s endowed lecture series.
Explore our Events Calendar to discover all of our current happenings on campus.
The Office of Civic Engagement & Leadership is the primary connection between the university and the surrounding community, offering tons of opportunities to connect with organizations around Tacoma. For example, many students participate in our mentoring program, Puget Sound Big Siblings, where Puget Sound students are paired with young mentees in the Tacoma area.
Additionally, Puget Sound faculty, students, and members of the south Puget Sound community participate in public projects through our Civic Scholarship Project. One of our most popular programs is “The Road Home: Homeless Policy for Pierce County” where professors and students from the Psychology Department collaborate to gather research in efforts to better understand homelessness in Tacoma.
Once a student is admitted to Puget Sound, they must fill out the housing preference form. The form asks some basic lifestyle questions that are used to pair up incoming students with consideration of medical or health related needs, lifestyle preferences, roommate requests, availability, and placement in specific residential programs.
The majority of residence halls are single sex by room, with single sex bathrooms on each floor. The exception to this is Seward Hall, a 4 story hall that is single sex by floor.
The rooms in the traditional style residence halls are spacious and bright; every room has at least one window, even those in the basement level. All rooms come furnished with a twin-XL length bed, a chest of drawers, closet, bookcase, desk, chair, and both waste and recycling bins for each student. Also, all rooms are cable-ready, offer wireless internet access, and are equipped with a university telephone and a voicemail for each student. Every residence hall also has coin-operated laundry machines, kitchen facilities, study areas, TV lounges, and recreational areas for student use. Learn more about specific residence halls.
Students with similar interests, backgrounds, or goals can elect to live together in a themed house. Students develop a living environment around the theme they have selected. Themed houses also host events for the campus community to share the theme with others. Learn more about our themed houses, including current themed houses.
Upperclassmen may choose to live either on or off campus. If living off-campus, there are a number of residential houses available for rent within blocks of campus. Of those students living off campus, about 80 percent live in the North End neighborhood, within one mile of campus. You can find helpful tips regarding looking for housing on our website.
For upperclassmen that choose to live on campus, there are a variety of options from themed options, residence halls, to on campus houses, and Greek houses. A residence hall for upperclassmen, Thomas Hall, opened in the fall of 2013.
The food at Puget Sound is quite tasty! There is one centralized dining area in Wheelock Student Center that caters to students, faculty, and staff alike. The Diner offers a variety of options at each station everyday. Stations in the Diner include: Italian, Latin America, Asian, Chef’s Table, The Deli, The Grill and Vegetarian/Vegan. There is also a salad bar, cereal bar, and frozen yogurt machine! Learn more about the Diner.
Students can purchase pizza and other yummy snacks at the Cellar—a student-run pizza parlor in the basement of Wheelock Student Center. There are also two cafés on campus; Diversions, on the first floor of Wheelock, and Oppenheimer, in the Thompson Hall courtyard on the west side of campus.
Students have the option of purchasing a meal plan. The meal plan works as a sort of “prepaid debit card”, with an available balance of dining dollars that can be used at the Diner, Diversions Café, Oppenheimer Café, or the Cellar. Students living on campus are required to purchase a meal plan. They are also available for off-campus students. Additional dining dollars can be purchased as needed through the semester on your cascade account as well.
School spirit is strong at Puget Sound. While it manifests itself at sporting events (which are free for students to attend), it also occurs in many facets of campus. Students represent Puget Sound proudly around the country at athletic events, academic conferences, musical performances, and theater performances.
Puget Sound is a NCAA Division III school that competes in the Northwest Conference and has 23 varsity sports teams. Learn more about a specific team on our athletics website.
Puget Sound’s campus includes several fields, a stadium, a tennis pavilion, and the Athletic and Aquatic Center, which was opened in August 2016. Please visit the Puget Sound Athletics website for more information about the facilities on campus.
The Puget Sound Athletics website provides contact information for all Puget Sound varsity athletic programs.
Additionally, each coach has a different policy on open tryouts which may change year to year. To inquire about sports you are interested in please contact coaches directly.
Puget Sound offers club and intramural sports, both of which are a less significant time commitment and open to students of varying skill levels. Learn about club and intramural sports as well as clubs run by the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound (ASUPS), our student government.
Puget Sound, as a Division III institution, is committed to the developing the scholar, as well as the athlete. Thus, varsity athletes at Puget Sound still have the same graduation and major/minor requirements as any other student.
The whole campus community, including professors, is supportive of Puget Sound athletics and athletes. Professors and coaches work together to make sure varsity athletes are caught up on assignments and class material in the instance that an athlete has to miss a class because of a sporting event.